Babymoon

Justin works as an estimator for his dad's electrical company. As an incentive to work as hard as he could to get them a very nice large project his dad told him he would send us on a vacation. He managed to get it. I was pretty excited :)

We ended up booking a cruise to the western Caribbean. We had to go before I was 24 weeks, but after I was done being sick....so 20 weeks it was.

Here's kind of how it went. We got substitutes for the temple/primary/Sunday school, and headed out at midnight on a Saturday night. We flew all night, but because of the time change we didn't get the sleep we thought we would by flying from 12-9. I think we both got just under three hours. We flew into Atlanta and then on to Miami. We took a cab straight from Miami to the dock and boarded the boat about 12 hours after we left Utah. It was incredible! It was huge!! It had all the free food we could ever want!!! We pretty much slept most of the rest of the day. It was a special day though because we discovered the ice cream machine.

Monday was a sea day. We spent it exploring the boat. It had a theater, several restaurants, dozens of lounges/clubs, swimming pools, water slide, a casino, and more food. Even a desert buffet, yum. They had shows and parties every night after dinner. And oh how Justin loved the dinners. He ordered shrimp cocktails by the threes and had them devoured before I even could grab one. We tried all sorts of stuff- veal, mahi mahi, duck, etc. We basically rolled from the dining room each night. And after dinner we were always pleasantly surprised by a different towel animal sitting on our bed. I felt bad destroying them.....maybe not so much those I couldn't name.





























































Tuesday took us to the Cayman Islands. We did a little shopping, but most of the stores sold jewelry and perfume. Even half off I can't afford diamonds ;). Then we went out to stingray city. It was so cool! We got off the boat and immediately sting rays were curiously nudging us and swimming by. I yelped everytime. You could feed the one that the captain caught, but I wasn't that brave. I did hold him though and let him give me a "back rub". Justin even gave him a kiss! Apparently it's good luck for 7 years if you do. Here's to the next 7 years! We went snorkeling after that. It was beautiful. Refer to photos.


















































































































Wednesday we stopped in Roaton, Honduras. Oh my. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't wait to get off the boat....until we went outside. I'm pretty sure it was 100 degrees with 100% humidity. Whoa. We loaded on the sunscreen. We took a tour that sent us on a boatride around the harbor to see some shipwrecks and mangroves. And then we loaded in an air conditioned bus (thank goodness) to see the rest of the island. We stopped at a couple of picturesque places and to see some cultural dancers. We also witnessed some bread making done with the root of a tree. I tried some, it was actually pretty good. We ended up buying some guava jelly = deliciousness, and a beautiful wooden salad bowl set. They also had a professional juggler for us that night. Sound entertaining? I didn't think so either, but he was probably one of my favorites.









































































Thursday we ended up in Belize City, Belize. It was Justin's turn to pick the excursion. Needless to say we went Reef Bottom Fishing. I enjoyed myself. You only had to wait about 30 seconds before one would bite, and my favorite part? The crew members both put the bait on and took the fish off. Yes, it was my kind of fishing. The fish were beautiful too. All rainbow colored. Not like our ugly lake fish. Then they donated the fish we caught to an orphanage. We also had a magician perform that night, he dragged out each trick by 15 minutes so we only ended up seeing a few. He was good, but I was left feeling like he could have gotten a few more in there...no need for selfishness, haha.














































Friday was our last port day. We stopped in Cozumel. We didn't have anything planned so we did a little shopping. Not Justin's favorite thing though so we were only out there a couple of hours. We did get a hammock for our backyard. Justin's going to build it into a pergola by the back fence. I'm excited for that project :D. We went back to the boat and ate more icecream.































Saturday was another sea day so we lounged some more. Sat on the balcony and watched the ocean go by. Disturbed the room service people because they couldn't clean our room twice like they wanted. Ate more icecream. Not a bad way to spend the day.































Sunday we headed off the boat early in the morning to our Miami excursion. They were going to drop us off at the airport afterward which was pretty convenient. We did the everglades tour. Justin was sooo excited to ride the airboat. And I must say it did not disappoint. The driver was spinning and whipping around all the weeds and mazes of islands and water lillies. Seeing some crocs/alligators was pretty cool too. We went to the show afterward. Did anyone know alligators are smart? I sure didn't. The trainer came in and would spell their names to us before he said them out loud. Each one, even it it had looked dead only seconds before, hopped up and went over to him when he said their name. Strange indeed. We tried some fried alligator tail at the cafe after the show. Not really my favorite meat, but not bad.

We then spent the entire day trying to get home. Yuck. I hate airport days. This one made me ill and I did leave a little baggie surprise for the flight attendant. Whoops. Oh well.

Needless to say we had a great time! And I hardly felt sick at all (except after some of those dinners), I'm pretty sure we both came back quite a bit heavier. Sad thing is now we have to make our own food again, lame.... ;).

Spring Update

Wow! I can't believe another few months have flown by so quickly!

We are still just as busy as ever, but I'm hoping it'll slow down soon. It seems when the days are warmer and longer there is more time to get things done.

First of all, we sold our puppies. I was a little attached, so it was sad to see them go. But, they all went to great homes and should be much more spoiled then if we would have kept them. Plus, I was getting a little tired of all of the "tootsie roll" surprises they were leaving me.

Here are some cute pics of them:























































I am absolutely loving the spring weather! We decided to get a pergola and some furniture for our patio this year. I'm not sure how much camping we'll do because of our schedules, but with the firepit we found it almost feels like we're camping in our own yard. Justin loves it! I think we've roasted hot dogs and marshmallows five or six times already. I just hope the temperatures stay above 60 for a little while. I'd love to get our flowers and vegetable gardens going.




































And last but not least, We found out today that we are going to have a little girl! I am only 19 weeks, but we are going on our cruise next week and asked if we could go in early. They are 99.9% sure it's a girl. I am so excited to get planning :D

New Calling

We didn't even imagine we would be so busy this last month! I have been working on getting my real estate license, which I just did! Yay! So glad to be done with that stressful item. I only had one month to get it done before my education expired and I had to start all over at 120 hours rather than 90 hours. But it is done.

We also had puppies! Three tiny things. Two little kodas, they even have his exact coloring as a puppy~ they are going to be darling! And one little summer who is also her mother's coat color. They are a week old now and we are waiting for them to open their eyes in the next few days.

And last, but not least, we got a new calling! We were shocked when we got a letter in the mail stating that we had an appointment with the Mt. Timpanogos Temple president. We have been called to be temple workers. Justin's first question was, "Are we old enough? Isn't there some sort of age limit?" The temple president did admit we would be bringing their median age down a bit. We have already been going for two weeks now, on the Saturday day shift. The one they needed the most help on, and the hardest day for us to give up, but Justin made a true statement in saying that we are sacrificing more this way. So wish us luck! For him it is a two year calling, for me....we'll see ;).

Spoiler Alert!

I am now going to post a few pictures from Kali's wedding (clear back in July). I have been forbidden from posting them on Facebook yet, but nobody said anything about the blog....Mwahaha. They are too cute to leave unposted.

Christmas is Coming!

There is nothing better at Christmas time than finding a comfortable spot, curling up, drinking hot cocoa, and watching the twinkle lights on the Christmas tree and the falling snow.....





































































We're still missing the snow, but you've gotta love those twinkle lights!

Finally Finished!

I am officially graduating from BYU!!! It has been a long journey, I started in 2003 when I was not even 18. I have really enjoyed learning and growing through these years. The classes have really been interesting and the majority of them pertain to my life. Ahem, maybe not physical science.... that is a whole other story, and I had to relive it twice. I put it off and put it off, But it is finished now :). And I loved learning about Psychology. I got to take Primate Behavior, Infant Development, Socialization across childhood, Child Psychopathology, Parenting & child guidance, and family processes just to name a few, how could these not be interesting and relevant? And I absolutely loved all of my religion classes as well. I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to attend, and I hope that I will always love to learn.

Except maybe..... about Physical Science. ;)

A happy fall season

It's been a few months since I have posted or even really had time to think much about it. Fall is always one of the busiest times of the year, and also one of my favorite! I love the crisp air, the crunchy leaves, the beautiful colors, the smell of spicy candles, and peach cobbler, mmm.... I have made the before-mentioned item twice now, and everyone ate it, so I consider it a success.

Here are a few of things we've been up to:

My First Hunt.

As I said, I love the autumn air and colors, and even though I don't exercise often.....well okay, hardly ever... I decided I wanted to go with Justin on one of his first hunts. I preferred to think of it as an early morning hike/nature walk.

I discovered I'm a trail girl. Otherwise, I hold on really tight to my hunting partner and need to be carried up the mountain. Thus tiring my partner more quickly and successfully decreasing amount of exercise time.

Autumn, the dog, not the season, ran up ahead in pursuit of some sort of bird whose species I cannot remember. Justin ran after her, gun in hand. I stood there admiring the amount of distance I had been carried at this point and the cute little bubbling brook by my feet.

Bang!

Rustling of trees and branches then occurred and giant ball of feathers flying through the air directly at me. I proceed to scream. Giant ball of feathers lands exactly at my feet and flops around. I was done. I run screaming up the mountain side away from feather monster at my feet. Justin runs back down, happy he got one, and laughs at the coincidence that the thing would land right in front of me. Then he proceeds to make me carry it down the mountain.

Here are photos:

Justin and his two big happy dogs resting at cute bubbly brook.
















The hunter
















The bird that tried to take me down and it's final resting place (I couldn't decide if I was more sad or grossed out at it's little feet sticking out of my jacket)
















A field that for some reason reminded me of vampires.
















The first fall leaves.
















This is about where (in the middle of my thoughts about very large wild cats and their mountain territories) Justin, who had just finished telling me we wouldn't be seeing any more birds, shshhed me and ran, pulling his gun out and chasing after Autumn. Here is where I stood wondering which tree I needed to attempt to shimmy up in order to prevent being dragged off into a small den.

It is a beautiful place though.

















My Birthday:

This year my birthday was really a great day. First of all it was on a Saturday, can't get much better than that. Second, I got almost everything on my list and then some, and third, we went to the first haunted house of the season. Can I say awesome? Yes.

Here is my present from Justin. It is called a kindle and is basically like a electronic book, with free internet, and almost every book you could ever want available with just the click of a button. I love this thing. I am currently reading "The Undaunted" by Gerald Lund. And I am not fighting with the pages of a 500+ page book. Instead I just get to click the next page button. Wonderful.








































Completion of Patio:

Still has a few more items left (such as the shiny sealant), but overall, I'm getting pretty excited for next year's warmer weather.

















Halloween:

Honestly this is one of the best holidays invented. Who can resist all the scary movies, and the idea of magic and broomsticks, and the punch with hand-shaped ice-cubes floating in them? My mom makes us "mummy dogs" each year by wrapping rhodes dough around hot dogs and then giving them eyeballs. Genius.

Stefani bought my costume the day of Halloween, so I had no idea what I was going to be until I showed up at my parents house. I was greeted by Kylan, looking no different than his normal self...until I realized it was my dad dressed up as Kylan. Freaky. I can see where Kylan gets his body from.

Kasi carried on our tradition this year by sitting on the porch dressed as an ugly scarecrow monster who would slowly turn her head when the big kids came along... great fun, great fun.















































As for right now? I am currently procrastinating what could be my very last final taken at BYU (crossing my fingers), and eagerly awaiting Black Friday.....one of the best days of the year.